


All For The Stage

by arguedontfight



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Basically, Gen, I'm so so bad at tagging, References to Drugs, and addiction and all that, badass ladies being badass but with instruments instead of racquets, basically the band!au nobody has asked for, enjoy this mess, ladies producing some good sounds, or like... punk, sexist bullshit because people are dumb, this title is so bad but I couldn't help myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-10
Packaged: 2019-04-21 05:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14277957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arguedontfight/pseuds/arguedontfight
Summary: Upper Class are a small band from Columbia until they are discovered by the record label E.X.Y. Quickly, the lives of the three girls, Dan, Renee and Allison, change completely. Their first EP is a huge success and suddenly, they become the new big thing in the music industry. Life could not be more amazing, until they are sent on tour with The Monsters, E.X.Y.'s other big success.





	All For The Stage

**Author's Note:**

  * For [parxdoxical](https://archiveofourown.org/users/parxdoxical/gifts).



> This fic came into existence because of a conversation, @parxdoxical and I had about the Foxes playing instruments, so it only seems fair that I gift this work to her. I hope you guys enjoy the weirdness that is the official Fox girls band!au. Next chapters will be longer, I promise. Also, I apologize in advance, because I know nothing about music or the music industry. What a good idea to write a band!au, am I right?

When Dan closed her eyes, she could hear her heartbeat pounding steadily in her ears. Her fingers were grabbing the microphone so hard that she feared it might break. Sweat was running over her forehead and down her back. This was it. This was what they had been waiting for for so long. They had played gigs before, but never anything comparable to this. People had come to see them, many people. They were not just there to play some background music and earn polite applause. Tonight, they were the main attraction and these people had come to see them perform. All of these thoughts ran through Dan’s mind within a second.

She looked over to get a last look at Allison, who was dressed in nothing but some jeans shorts, a black lace bra and her unbelievably high stilettos. Her bass covered up more of her body than her clothes did, but that was typically and unapologetically Allison.

Allison gave her an euphoric smile. It was the smile of a girl, who knew exactly that she could have the entire world if she wanted to. Tonight would be their first step on their way to taking over the world.

Dan took a deep breath when she heard Renee tapping her drum sticks against each other and then the lights went on and they started playing.

Something happened to Dan when she was performing. She felt the most comfortable and the most at home when she was on stage, singing and rocking the guitar with Allison on the bass, helping her out with some background vocals and with Renee absolutely killing it on the drums. It did not matter which song they played. Dan could feel all the eyes on her and she enjoyed every single moment. She was almost ecstatic when she was on stage, in her own, personal performing bubble. Nothing could hurt her when she was on stage with the girls. Dan felt invincible.

It did not matter that there were only about 200 people. This was the biggest crowd the girls had ever played and it felt like a huge success. Another band would go on stage after them, but that did not matter. Dan felt like this was their evening. They owned the stage and she could see the crowd falling in love with Allison’s long legs and slim fingers, dancing over the strings over her bass, with Renee’s adorable smile and her strong hands, making her sticks speed over the drums and Dan could also see them falling in love with her, with the way her body moved and her voice sounded.

“Thank you so much!” Dan whispered into her microphone after they had played their entire set and even one encore, but she was drowned by the loud applause and cheers from the crowd.

When the girls left the stage and had taken all of their equipment back to Renee’s van, Dan felt like she was on drugs. She threw her arms around Allison and Renee and dragged them close to her.

“Dan, get off of me, you’re sweaty!” Allison complained, but did not push her away.

“This was amazing!” Dan shouted and jumped up and down, “We killed this gig!”

“We really played good tonight,” Renee agreed with a smile, “I bet we will get booked again soon.”

“Um, hell yes we are. Three super hot ladies who play super amazing music? Who would not want that?”

Dan and Renee exchanged a grin over Allison’s comment, before they entered the small room they had been given backstage to keep their stuff in, to get their last bags before they would leave. Dan abruptly stopped walking when she saw a strange man waiting inside of the room. He was not particularly tall, rather average and his skin was almost as dark as Dan’s. He had broad shoulders and wore black, expensive looking clothes.

“Excuse me, I think this is our room,” Dan said harshly and raised her eyebrows at the man.

He just nodded and held his hand out. “Danielle Wilds, Renee Walker, Allison Reynolds?” he asked, “My name is David Wymack. I’m from E.X.Y., the record label. I’m guessing you have heard about it.”

“Oh my God,” Allison whispered somewhere behind Dan.

Dan took his hand, rather curious now than suspicious. “It’s Dan,” she corrected him, “Nice to meet you, Mr Wymack. Would you be kind enough to explain what you are doing backstage in our room?”

Wymack’s smile looked more grim than it looked nice, but for some reason, Dan liked it. “I would like to ask you to have a meeting with us. We have been watching you ladies for quite a while now and want to offer Upper Class a contract. The details will be discussed on Thursday at 2 pm at the E.X.Y. headquarters here in Columbia, if you are interested.”

Dan‘s jaw was hanging wide open. For the first time in a long while, she did not know what to say. She turned around to search for help from Renee or Allison, but they looked as helpless as she did. Dan did not know whether she wanted to cry or laugh or scream. Or all three at once.

Wymack gave her a business card. “Think about it and call me to confirm the meeting if you’re interested. Thank you for your time ladies,” he said, gave them a friendly nod and then squeezed himself out of the door, careful not to touch any of them.

As soon as the door was closed, Allison let out an excited scream and grabbed the card from Dan’s shaking fingers.

“Guys, this is amazing! This is more than amazing, this is insane. We are getting signed!”

“We haven’t agreed yet,” Renee reminded her calmly, but Dan could see the excited glow in her eyes.

“Why wouldn’t we agree?” Allison shot back, too excited to use her usual bitchy undertone, “This E.X.Y. we’re talking about. They signed The Monsters, you know.”

The Monsters were an ominous and edgy band with an unique sound that could not quite be categorised. They consisted of four members. Frontman Neil Josten, who was quite opinionated and gave some pretty entertaining interviews, drummer Nicky Hemmick, an out and proud gay Latino who had enough energy to play four drums at once and the twins, Aaron and Andrew Minyard who could only be told apart when one looked very closely. Aaron played bass and Andrew the guitar. It was hard to tell them apart on stage, but even harder off stage. Dan knew a lot about The Monsters, especially because they had been dominating the music industry for months now, especially after the world-famous Violinists duo, Riko Moriyama and Kevin Day, had broken up due to unknown creative differences.

“This is big,” Dan announced and gave her friends a serious look, “This is huge. Maybe a number too big for us.”

“Are you insane? This is exactly what we’ve been waiting for, Dan! This is our chance, our entrance to the music world. Without a label, you can’t achieve anything and E.X.Y. is a really good chance for us,” Allison threw at her.

"We can't rush this, guys,“ Dan reminded Renee and Allison and gave them a worried look, “This is not just accepting a gig or something like that. I'm just as excited as you are, but I think we should really think this through before agreeing.“

None of them really had a reason to trust random, older men, especially not those dressed in expensive, black clothes. But Renee always focused on the good in people and Allison was attracted by everything that shone bright. Wymack had seemed like a good guy, but Dan was programmed to distrust every man she met.

“Whatever,“ Allison just said and threw her long blonde hair over her shoulder, “We should get out of here. I can already hear the next band playing and I am really not keen on having my perfect hearing destroyed.“

Renee held back a smile at Allison's comment and grabbed her bag, before handing Dan hers. "It's been a long evening,“ she made clear, "Maybe we should all get some sleep and grab coffee tomorrow morning to talk properly about E.X.Y.? Maybe I can get Stephanie to join us for a fourth opinion."

"Renee, I know you think Stephanie is the savior for our nation, but does she even know a thing about the music industry?“ Allison asked and gave Renee an incredulous look.

"She knows many things about business and is not as blinded by success as you can be," Renee answered with a shrug, "Or as distrustful towards men as Dan is."

Neither Allison, nor Dan answered, because they knew it was the truth. They left the small club and walked towards where Renee's van was parked. Even from far away, Dan could see the red graffiti smeared over the rear window and her vision went red with anger.

"What the fuck?" she shouted and stormed towards the car. The word "sluts" was written in big letters.

A tall boy was standing next to the car, no spray can in his hands, but Dan decided to ignore that. She angrily pointed at his face and raised her chin to make her seem taller. "What the fuck is your problem?" she hissed at him, her tone furious.

The boy stumbled backwards and raised his hands to show that he was innocent. Despite his intimidating appearance, tall, muscly, he looked almost scared by Dan. "I didn't do it, I swear. I tried to stop them."

"Them?" Allison asked and gave the graffiti on Renee's van a cold look.

"Some stupid teens," the boy explained quickly, "About fifteen or sixteen years old."

"Why would they do something like that?" Dan spat out, still angry. Her hands were clenched into quavering fists and her eyes were little slots.

Renee shrugged. Dan wondered how she and Allison could stay so calm. Allison probably did not care and Renee was too mild-tempered to get angry because of such a foolish thing. Dan did not know whether she admired her friends for that or not.

"Some people cannot deal with confident women," Allison said and threw her bag carelessly onto the backseat of the van, "Their problem, not mine."

Dan took a deep breath and turned back to face the boy. "Thank you," she said to him, but she did not really mean it. She had no evidence that he really had helped them and no reason to trust him.

He smiled. "You're welcome," he answered and held out his hand, "I'm Matt by the way. You guys play some really good music."

Dan quickly shook his hand and gave him a polite smile. "Thank you," she said again, before turning away from him and getting into the van.

She could hear Renee and Allison say something else to Matt, before they got into the van as well.

"Poor guy," Allison laughed once she got in, "Dan you totally wowed him."

"I did not," Dan answered, a little bit annoyed.

"Girl, didn't you see the heart eyes he was giving you? Somebody has a little crush on our front woman," Allison said and gave Dan a wink.

She simply rolled her eyes and leaned back.

 

The next day, Dan, Allison and Renee met in the small, but cute café that was only a few blocks away from Allison's overly expensive penthouse apartment and in the same street as the tiny flat, Dan and Renee shared. Allison always claimed she did not like it because it was old-fashioned, but Dan knew better.

"So," Dan started after they had all gotten their coffees, "E.X.Y., huh? This is a really big thing."

"Yeah, we know," Allison said impatiently, "Which is why we should accept the offer."

"We haven't even read the contract yet. Maybe they will expect impossible things from us."

"I did some research on E.X.Y. last night," Renee announced, "They aren't set on a specific genre, which is why they are highly criticized by some, but highly praised by others. The Monsters aren't their only successful artist. They also signed Laila Dermott, that super successful pop singer, and her girlfriend Alvarez."

"Isn't she that super funny rapper? Didn't we watch an interview with her just a few days ago?" Allison asked and raised her brows.

"Yes, we did," Renee and Dan answered simultaneously.

"Girl power," Allison said and nodded slowly, "I like that."

"That guy we met yesterday, David Wymack is the guy who recruits all the new artists and also manages most of them," Renee continued.

"He did not look like a manager," Dan commented dryly.

"Maybe that's a good thing," Renee answered with a reserved smile.

"Yeah," Dan said, "Maybe."

"Oh my God, Dan," Allison groaned and gave her an annoyed look, "Why are you being so difficult about this? This is our big chance! Maybe the only chance we will ever get!"

If Dan was being honest, she had no idea why she was still hesitating. Allison was absolutely right; this was their big chance, what they had hoped for, what Dan had dreamed of ever since she was a little girl. With a record label, a record would follow eventually. Getting signed was not a promise for success, but it was a damn good start. And E.X.Y. was good, Dan knew that when she looked at The Monsters, or Laila Dermott and Alvarez.  
Perhaps she was scared. Scared of what the future might hold for her and her friends, scared of failure. This was a risk she had to take, not only for her own sake, but for Renee and Allison. Getting signed would be the biggest fuck you to everybody who had ever doubted her and her talent, to the teens who had smeared "sluts" across Renee's rear window, to every person who had ever told them that they were not good enough. She took a deep breath and made a decision.

Dan reached into her pocket and got her phone. When she started dialing, Allison and Renee exchanged an excited look.

"What are you doing?" Renee asked her.

"I'm calling Wymack," Dan answered determinedly, "I'm confirming the meeting on Thursday."

Allison let out an excited squeak and grabbed Renee's hand. Dan gave her friends a confident smile. This was going to be it.

 

On Thursday, they arrived early at the E.X.Y. headquarters. They had taken Allison's pink Mercedes, because Allison had claimed her baby needed some exercise, but Dan and Renee knew that she loved showing it off. The headquarters were in a huge, very modern building. It had big windows and looked more noble than Dan would have expected it to look.

They exchanged one last look before entering the building. Dan grabbed Allison and Renee's hands and gave them a quick squeeze.

"What's your problem, Wilds?" Allison complained, but Dan could hear the edge in Allison's normally so confident voice.

"Nothing," Dan answered with a smile, "I just like you guys very much."

"Is she sick?" Allison asked Renee.

Renee gave Allison an amused laugh. "I don't think so, no. But she is starting to have this thing normal people call feelings."

Allison studied her perfect manicure for a second. "Never heard of it. Can we go inside now?"

"Yes," Renee answered and Dan nodded.

The entrance hall was almost empty except for two women sitting behind a counter. When the girls entered they looked up and gave them kind smiles.

"Hello," one of them said, "How can I help you?"

Dan gave Renee and Allison a quick look. Renee just smiled at her and Allison raised her perfect eyebrow, which meant that Dan would have to speak.

"Hi," she said and walked up to the counter, "My name is Dan Wilds, this is Allison Reynolds and Renee Walker. We have a meeting with David Wymack."

"Ah yes," the woman said and gave them a knowing smile, "The Upper Class girls. David is expecting you in his office, just take the elevator up to the second floor and knock on his door. There's a big sign on it saying "Wymack". It's hard to miss."

"Thank you," Dan answered and gave the woman her most polite smile.

Even the elevator was surprisingly modern and had a huge mirror, in which Allison checked her flawless appearance.

"Isn't it weird that they are not even escorting us to the office?" Dan asked and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Maybe it's not customary here," Renee assumed and tucked her white hair behind her ear.

"We are not babies, after all," Allison commented dryly and gave Dan a certain kind of look, "Stop being so nervous."

"Why don't you guys start being nervous?" Dan suggested, "I cannot believe that you are so calm about this. What the hell is your secret and why aren't you sharing it with me?"

"Xanax," Allison said the same time Renee said, "Faith."

Dan rolled her eyes. "You are impossible."

They reached the second floor and right on their left was Wymack's office. Even though they had claimed that they were not nervous, Allison and Renee let Dan knock on his door.

A young, familiar looking man answered the door. In the light of the day, he looked older than he had Saturday night and today, he wore a confident grin. Dan let out a bunch of curses in her head.

"Hi Matt," Allison said calmly, "What are you doing here?"

"Working," Matt answered and stepped aside, "Do you guys want to come in?"

Wymack's office was not was modern as the rest of the building and it was rather simple and chaotic at the same time. He had a big plant in one corner, but Dan assumed that it was made out of plastic. There was only one drawer in the room and a coffee machine was placed on top of it. Files were lying on the desk, right next to where about four empty cups were standing. Wymack was sitting behind his desk, but he got up once he saw the girls come in.

"Good day, girl," he greeted them and offered all of them his hand, "Matt, get three chairs for me, please. Why haven't you done this already?"

"Was I supposed to read your mind?" Matt shot back.

"No, but you could have used your brain for once," Wymack answered, but not in a mean way. He turned back to the girls. "Did you have a safe drive here?"

"Yes, thank you," Renee answered politely.

There was an awkward silence until Matt returned with the chairs and the girls sat down on the other side of Wymack's desk. Wymack sent Matt away again and Dan could feel Matt's stare on her back as he left the door and could see Allison's dirty grin out of the corner of her eye.

"I suppose you coming here today means something good," Wymack started and gave the girls a questioning look.

"We want to read the contract before we decide on anything," Dan answered brusquely.

For some reason, her response made Wymack smile. "Reasonable," he said and put a pile of papers in front of them, "That would be it. Take your time, ask questions. We do not want you to decide this without being one hundred percent sure that this is want you want."

Dan gave Wymack one last look, not as distrustful as before, and started reading the contract.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading and if you liked it, please leave a comment and some Kudos!


End file.
